


we can't save everyone (but we can try)

by ironmade (theheartchoice)



Series: Tony Stark Bingo '19 [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Canon Compliant, Drabble, Drabble and a Half, Ficlet, For Science!, Gen, Good Intentions, Hopeful Ending, Introspection, Iron Man 3, Light Angst, Mad Science, Minor Character Death, One Shot, POV Tony Stark, Science, Tied-Up Tony Stark, Timestamp, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-28 23:35:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17796908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theheartchoice/pseuds/ironmade
Summary: Maya Hansen dies unable to make amends for her wrongdoings. Tony Stark watches her die, unable help, and wonders if he could have saved her.An image-prompted timestamp for the Tony Stark Bingo '19.





	we can't save everyone (but we can try)

**Author's Note:**

> ✦   **Tony Stark Bingo '19  |  square:  A4** , _Tony tied-up in IM3_ ([ **image**](https://i.imgur.com/LRHKb5o.jpg))  ✦
> 
> ✧ this ficlet is also posted [on tumblr](https://pony-starker.tumblr.com/post/182825909054/maya-hansen)  
>  ✧ props to the whiz @[feyrelay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/feyrelay/) for the helpful beta

He can help her.

She can do this - she _is_ doing this, soul or no - and afterwards, he can help her. Maya is risking her life to save his, and that’s not nothing. If her bravery - _recklessness? foolish desperation?_ \- works to get them out of this then he _wants_ to help her.

First matter of business will be taking down Killian. Then they find Pepper - figure out a way to _save_ Pepper; join forces in the lab ‘til they squash the bug that threatens to make her go Chernobyl and find a way to stop the other Magma Monsters in the process.

And then, after, work on restoring Maya’s soul. Together.

There are actions for which she must be held accountable - choices made, bad deeds done - but not out of Evil, or Madness. Maya’s no villain. She is a scientist, though, and there’s always been some measure of ‘ego’ wrapped up in scientific pursuits. A lot of the time Good Intentions pave the way. Maya took a wrong turn, somewhere. Came out on a darker path - doesn’t mean she started out with darkness inside her, pulling her towards the shadow. She just ended up on the wrong road and travelled it a little too long.

It’s not all that unfamiliar. It wasn’t too long ago that Tony himself claimed to be fighting for peace by trading in The Biggest of Sticks. But he came to a crossroads - was met with a brutal moment of clarity. In short, he changed. He chose to do better - to _be_ better. And now Maya is making that same choice. Better late than never.

Her actions - here and now, foolish and desperate - are _proof_ that she _wants_ to change. And that’s half the battle, right there.

So, yeah. Tony plans to help her. He has a plan and it’s a _good_ plan... Until Killian puts a bullet in her heart.

The world of Science loses one Maya; the World another. She tried - to be better, to redeem herself, to help someone other than herself - in the end. Not bad, as Last Deeds go.

But Tony almost solved her problem half-drunk with half his brain fogged in a post-coital high a decade ago - he can figure it out on his own, now, sober and high on adrenaline.

Can’t save Maya, though. Can’t save everyone. She sold her soul a while back - tried to _buy_ it back in a drastic bid to put right her wrongs. She didn't survive it, but trying counts for something. Maybe if she’d kept her soul and instead traded in her beating heart for a mechanical one along the way she might still be alive. A lot of people might still be alive. Then again, others might be dead in their place.

Some graves empty out as history rewrites itself, while others fill up - sod and tears of _their_ loved ones burying the loss. And maybe there is no Better Alternative. Maybe any detail forced to change as one doubles-back in time, doesn’t change anything at all. Maya would make the same mistakes again. Circumstances might shift, but the makings of mis-steps are ever-present. Maybe every other possible alternative is not better or worse, just different. But just as destructive, in one way or another.

He couldn’t save Maya in the here-and-now but maybe he couldn’t have saved her in the there-and-then, either. And that’s not on him.

(...Is it?)

Guess he’ll never know. And now he’s stuck - spiralling on ‘maybes’ and ‘what-ifs’ - but it’s no real use looking back and wishing things were different. The only value to be found in looking at one's past is what you learn for your future - your tomorrow, today.

Tony didn’t save Maya. But: 

Here’s to looking out better for next time, for whoever comes next.

For everyone's sake.

 

**Author's Note:**

> All my written creations for the **Tony Stark Bingo '19** will be housed in the【[Official Bingo Collection ™](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/TonyStarkBingo2019)】as well as my own 【[Personal Series](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1272701)】and all works are standalone.
> 
> You can also find all these [Text Fills](https://pony-starker.tumblr.com/search/tonystarkbingo19+bingo-text) over on my _Starker_ -centric tumblr along with all my [Visual Fills](https://pony-starker.tumblr.com/search/tonystarkbingo19+bingo-visual) (mostly moodboards).


End file.
